iiorton



(No Model.)

W. P. HORTON, Jr.

MEDICAL ELECTRODE.

No. 562,765. Patented June 23, 1896.

UNITED STATES PAJTENT OFFICE.

vVILLIrllll P. HORTON, JR., OF CLEVELAND, OHIO, ASSIGNOR TO YVILLIAM P. HORTON, OF SAME PLACE.

M EDICAL ELECTRODE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 562,765, dated June 23, 1896. Application filed December 30, 1895. Serial No. 673,858. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM P. HORTON, Jr. a citizen of the United States, residing at Cleveland, in the county of Ouyahoga and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Electrodes; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to an electrode specially adapted to be used as a part of the apparatus employed in practicing the process for obtunding the sensory nerves of teeth during the excavation of cavities therein, which is described and claimed in Letters Iatent No. 535,905, granted March 19, 1895, to W. P. Horton, Jr., and A. B. Jones. In the practice of that process, one electrode is secured to that side of the patients face upon which the tooth to be excavated is located, and close in front of the car, as described in said patent.

My present invention has for its object the production of an electrode which may be easily secured at the desired point, and then held squarely against the face.

The invention consists in the construction and combination of parts hereinafter described and claimed.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is an edge view of the electrode. Fig. 2 is an inside view, and Fig. 3 is a vertical longitudinal section on line 3 3 of Fig. 2.

Referring to the parts by letters, A represents the electrode, which is made of any suitable metal.

13 represents absorbent material contained in the cavity in said electrode, and G a strap, of rubber or other material, which is insulated from the electrode, by means of which said electrode is secured against the patients face.

The electrode consists of a plate a, having on its inner face an endless flange a these parts forming a cavity into which an absorbent material, as absorbent cotton, is tightly packed. At the ends of the plate a are the loops a a, which are bent forward out of the plane of the back plate a until their cross-bars a a are in a plane about midway between the back plate and front edge of the flange.

A binding=post a is secured to or formed integral with the rear side of the plate ct, at the middle thereof. It has a hole a to re ceive the wire from the electrical generator, and a set-screw a, or other device, for holding the wire therein. This binding-post also prevents the electrode from slipping upon the strap,.because said binding-post passes through a hole in the strap, and the strap is then passed through the loops a a, and when the strap is tightened around the patients head the electrode is held with a moderate pressure and without danger of slipping against the desired point on the patients face.

In the particular form of the electrode which is shown in the drawings the back plate has parallel sides and is considerably longer than it is wide, and the flange a at its sides is flush with the sides of the plate, and its ends are curved. While this construction is not essential to the invention as broadly claimed, I am satisfied, as the result of much exp erimenting,that it is the best form,because it permits the electrode to be placed close to the patients ear, and it permits the use of a large surface of absorbent material which will lie in close contact with the face.

In use, the absorbent material is moistened with water-or other suitable liquid.

Having described my invention, I claim-- 1. As a new article of manufacture, a metallic electrode consisting of a plate at, having a flange on the front face, thereby forming a cavity for the reception of absorbent material, forwardly-bent loops at its ends, and a binding-post on its rear side, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

2. The combination of a metallic electrode having a plate a, a flange on its front face whereby a cavity is formed for the reception of an absorbent material, forwardly-bent loops at the ends, and a binding-post on its rear side, with an insulated strap which has a hole through which the binding-post passes, and which passes through both loops, sub stantially as and for the purpose specified.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two Witnesses.

WILLIAM P. HORTON, JR.

Ni tnesses:

E. L. Tnunsron, L. F. GRISWOLD. 

